What to Do When a Plumbing Accident Happens

Plumbing tends to be something that we all use on a daily basis, but that very few of us fully understand. If you, like most of us, don’t know how to fix a broken drain, leaky pipe, or broken-down boiler, you may start to worry when something goes wrong. Luckily, there are professionals in every town and city ready to help in times of plumbing crisis or emergency. If you feel like you need help, read on to understand everything you need to do when a plumbing accident happens.

What Is a Plumbing Accident or Emergency?

There are a few areas of the home where a plumbing accident or emergency can occur. One of the more serious potential issues is a burst water supply line. This will be one of the main pipes that feed the water supply into the rest of the home. If this mains line bursts or cracks you could experience a very high volume of water flooding in the home, and this can happen very quickly. Fortunately, burst mains are not that common in homes. Over at this URL, you can see more types of plumbing emergencies and the services available to you if any of these occur in your home. These include broken drains, leaking pipes, or severe blockages.

Shutting Off Your Water

We have to stress here that whatever you do while following this advice, you must put your safety first. Always remember when dealing with an accident involving plumbing in the home, your safety is far more important than anything material in the home. If it is too dangerous to follow any of this advice you must simply leave the home and keep yourself safe! 

Shutting off your water should be the first port of call when you realize there is a plumbing incident in the home. Your water supply is usually controlled by a single valve. In many homes that valve is found in the wall in a bathroom or utility room. Other homes have this valve under the sink, or even out the front of the house under the ground. If you don’t know already, you should make sure you find out where your water main shutoff valve is. In the case of an accident, go straight to this valve and turn the water off. This will stop any more water heading down the mains line towards the leaky appliance or burst pipe, therefore stopping any further flooding in the home.

Are Any Electrical Items Involved?

Secondly, killing power is paramount to your safety and the safety of your home. If the leak is confined to a single area, for example in the kitchen, then you should locate the fuse for that room and shut the power off. If the leak has caused water to flood into other rooms of the house you should also switch the power off for those rooms, or even the whole house. If your home is split over two floors and the leak has occurred upstairs, we strongly recommend turning the power off downstairs as well. Water will likely go through the flooring into the electrics in the ceiling below. In the case of a large flood, leave the house after switching the power off.

Call An Expert

The next thing you need to do is call a plumbing expert. Most of your local plumbers will provide emergency services, some even offer 24-hour callouts. Call them right away to ensure they arrive as quickly as possible to assist you. Make sure you give as much information as you possibly can over the phone as this will assist the team in deciding who to send and what equipment they need, especially if you need toilet repairs. In many cases, an emergency plumber can fix most leaks or breaks on the same day and you can move on to assessing any other damage caused to your home.

Additionally, if you do not already have a trusted plumber to contact, using the internet can be a helpful place to start. For example, searching online for “emergency plumbers near me” can help you quickly find local professionals that offer emergency callout services, along with customer reviews and contact information to help you make a more informed decision during urgent situations.

After The Accident

Sadly, water can be quite damaging to your home. Standing water can soak through floorboards, drywall, and furniture. Some things can be dried out, such as kitchen furniture or some fabrics. However, you may have to discard rugs, carpet, or any flooring that begins to warp. This will only happen if you are not able to dry it out quickly enough. Mop up any standing water and try and dry out as many surfaces as you possibly can. Within a couple of days, you should be able to tell whether everything needs replacing or is salvageable.

 While we hope that you never have to deal with a plumbing emergency such as this one, hopefully, our handy guide here will help you deal with one if it does occur. Remember to make note of where your mains water and power supplies are and have the number of a local plumber handy… just in case!